Railway car draft rigging



Dec. 22, E959 J. J. coNNER ETAL 2,918,182

RAILWAY CAR DRAFT RIGGING 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 25. 1958 R m m r GJ N m e m w nd M u O a m P d am Lf J d f n m l@.ai-,..:@1@ a @N or fr, l md wiili WI llt.

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RAILWAY CAR DRAFT RIGGING 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 25. 1958 INVENTOR J e sse J. Conner' and. Robert Landregan ATTORNEYS Dec. 22, w59 J. J. coNNER ETAL 2,918,82

RAILWAY CAR DRAFT RIGGING 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 25, 1958 NVENTOR Conner E5 Jesse J. andRober J.Landregan ATTORNEYS Filed March 25, 1958 J. J..CONNER ETAL RAILWAY CAR DRAFT RIGGING 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 INVENTOR Jesse Conner and Bober J.Lan.regan ATTORNEYS RAILWAY CAR DRAFT RIGGING Jesse J. Conner, Alexandria, and Robert J. Landregan, Arlington, Va.

This invention relates to railway car draft riggings and more particularly to a device for supplementing the impact absorbing characteristics of standard draft riggings.

Owners of railway rolling stock are confronted with severe maintenance costs each year in repairing railway cars damaged by rough handling of the cars in yards as well as costs due to claims resulting from damaged lading. Most of this damage is to the car bodies and underframes and occurs during coupling and switching operations because of the extremely heavy loads involved and the excessive speeds frequently employed during switching operations. The impact forces thus developed are transmitted from the car couplings to the car underframes and bodies. To overcome this problem, railway engineersl and designers of cars have developed several varieties of impact cushioning means to absorb these impact forces between the couplers and the car underframe or body. Although the designs of such impact cushioning devices have become quite highly developed, and inA recent times quite effective, the damage to the cars and high maintenance costs persist. Further, because a great number of the cars in use today were constructed many years ago, the benets of these developments are not fully realized. To replace existing gears with high capacity devices or moveable sill type underframes requires such complete reconstruction of the car substructure as to be economically impractical.

An object of this invention, therefore, is to provide a supplementary impact cushioning device byv which the aforementioned damage to railway cars and lading can be effectively as well as economically overcome.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a supplementary impact cushioning device of the type referred to which may be applied to any standard railway draft rigging without materially altering the structure of such a draft rigging or the car underframe structure.

A further object of this invention is to provide a supplementary impact cushioning device of the type referred to which can be equipped with anyof several types of impact absorbing arrangements.

Still another object of this invention is the provision of a supplementary impact cushioning device of the type referred to which is of minimum practical weight and cost and yet suiiiciently strong to meet all service demands.

These and other objects will be obvious from the following detailed description read in conjunction with the attached sheets of drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a standard railway draft rigging incorporating the supplementary impact cushioning device of this invention;

Figure 2 isv a fragmentary side elevation of the ccnstruction illustrated in Figure l;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional elevation taken at lines 3 3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a side elevation in partial cross-section Patented nec. 22, i959 showing one form of the supplementary impact cushioning device of this invention;

Figure 5 is a plan view of the construction shown in Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a side elevation in partial cross section showing another form of this invention;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary plan view of another embodiment of this invention; and

Figure 8 is a fragmentary plan view of still another embodiment of the supplementary impact cushioning device of this invention.

In general, the objects of this invention are achieved by replacing the draft gear follower of a standard draft rigging with a follower having depending leg portions engaging plungers, which in turn act against cushioning means within a housing and the housing is afixed to the bottom of the center sill of a railway car.

Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to Figures l and 2 thereof, a standard railway draft rigging is shown and includes a center sill 9 having vertical wall portions 10 and laterally extending flanges 1l. Front and rear draft lugs 12 and i3 respectively, are riveted, bolted or welded to the inside surfaces of the wall portions 10 in the usual manner. A draft gear 14 having the usual housing 15 and plunger f6 is positioned between the front and rear draft lugs in the center sill 9. The draft gear 14 is enclosed by a coupler yoke 17 which is connected at its front end to the coupler shank 18 of a coupler (not shown) by draft key i9.

The arrangement thus described includes the essential working components of the standard draft rigging commonly found in railway cars and it is to be understood that such a rigging does not form part of this invention, but merely serves to establish the general type of structure with which the supplementary impact cushioning device of this invention is to be used.

A draft gear follower 20 is positioned between the front draft lugs 12 and the draft gear plunger 16. In the usual draft rigging, the follower is merely in the form of a rectangular plate through which butler forces originating in the coupler are transmitted to the draft' gear plunger and conversely draft forces applied to the' draft gear through the coupler yoke are transmitted to the front draft lugs on the center sill. ln the practice of this invention, however, the draft gear follower 2d is providedv with a pair of downwardly depending por-` tions or legs 21, one on each lower corner thereof. Thus, it is apparent that the follower Ztl can be easily substituted for theusual rectangular follower without modifying the standardy rigging.

The legs 2li4 are formed with a forwardly extending portion 22' having a flat upper surface or shoulder 23- which slidably engages a bearing plate 2d of miid steel or similar material and is replaceably mounted on the bottom of the center sill flanges if. The bearing plate 24- thus functions to eliminate wear which might occur between the shoulders 23 and the flanges if. Sores- 25l are provided in the rear surface of the legs 2i for receiving plunger rods 26. The bores` and plunger rods aregiven diameters of such dimensions that these members, though detachable, tightly engage each other when assembled in the draft rigging. This method of attaching the plunger rods to the follower legs is preferred; however, it is obvious that other well-known methods for accomplishing this connection could be used, such as for example, the plunger rods could be merely welded` to the; legs` during assembly.

The plunger rods 26 are operably associated with cushioning means, the details of which are more fully described hereinafter. The cushioning means is positioned within a housing 27 having dat upwardly facing surfaces 28 to fit the center sill flanges 11 and are secured thereto such as by rivets 29, though other means such as bolts, welding or the like could be used. A plate 30 is secured to the top` of the housing 27 to support the draft gear 14 and coupler yoke 17. The housing 27, therefore, replaces the draft gear carrier commonly used in draft riggings. Y

The ease by which the supplementary impact cushioning device can be applied-to a standard draft rigging is now realized. After the follower 20 has been inserted as described above, the housing 27 is secured to the cen ter sill in a position to cause the plunger rods 26 to engage the bores 25 in the follower legs 21. It is to be noted that the draft rigging is in no way changed.

`In operation, the severe impact force imposed on the car couplers is transmitted from the coupler shank 18 to the follower 20. The greater portion of this impact or bufng force is absorbed by the draft gear 14 in the usual manner. In addition to transmitting bufling forces to the draft gear 14, the follower 20 transmitsy a portion of these forces to the supplementary impact cushioning means within the housing 27 through actuating plungers 26, thus supplementing the impact absorbing characteristics of the draft gear. After the impact has been absorbed the follower is returned to its normal position against the front draft lugs 12. When draft forces are applied to the coupler and through the coupler yoke to the rear end of the draft gear, the follower 20 is urged against the front draft lugs 12 and functions as the usual follower without any interference to the standard components of the draft rigging.

Referring now to Figures 4 and k5 of the drawings, one form of cushioning means is shown in which the housing 27 is formed having a pair of longitudinal cylinders 31. Pistons 32 on the ends of the plunger` rods 26 are positioned within the cylinders and provided with bleed ports 33. The cylinders are filled with hydraulic uid so that impact forces transmitted from the follower 21 to the pistons are absorbed or cushioned by the fluid bleeding through the ports 33. Return springs 34 are positioned in the fiuid behind the pistons to return the pistons to their normal position after the impact forces on the follower desist.

Another embodiment of the cushioning device of this invention is shown in Figure 6. In this embodiment, the housing is formed having a pair of longitudinal chambers 36 in which helical compression springs 37 and 38 are concentrically arranged to receive impact forces transmitted from the follower 20. The plunger rods 26 are formed having enlarged portions 39 for abutting against the springs 37 and 38.

In another embodiment, illustrated in Figure 7, the housing 27 is formed having a central wall portion 40 having surfaces 41 and 42 and extending from the rear of the housing to a point short of its length to establish chambers 43 and 44 for receiving concentric helical spring pairs 45 and 46 respectively. The forward end of the housing 27 is open to receive a plunger 47 integrally formed on the plunger rods 26 and having inwardly facing angular surfaces 48 and 49. Wedge shaped members 50 and 51 are positioned between surfaces 48 and 49 on the plunger 47 and surfaces 41 and 42 on wall 40, and abut rearwardly against springs 45 and 46. Thus, when impact forces are received by the plunger 47, angular friction occurs between surfaces 41, 42, 48, 49 and the members 50 and 51 to develop a reduced longitudinal component of force. This forcey is absorbed or cushioned by the springs 45 and 46.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 8, the housing 27 is formed having a chamber 52 open at its front end for receiving plunger 53 formed on the ends of plunger rods 26. The plunger 53 abuts rearwardly against a cushion including a plurality of rubber or like material cushions 54 extending transversely of the housing. The cushions 54 are separated by a plurality of metal plates 5S. Thus, the impact forces transmitted to the plunger 53 are absorbed by the combined action of the individual rubber cushions 54.

From the foregoing, it will readily be observed by a person skilled in this art that by this invention there is provided an impact cushioning device which may very easily be used with any number of well-known standard draft riggings and serve effectively to supplement the impact absorbing characteristics of the standard draft gear.

Since many possible changes may be made in this invention, and since many changes may be made in the embodiments herenbefore set forth without departing from the spirit of this invention, it is to be distinctly understood that the foregoing describes preferred forms and applicants claim the benefit of a full range of equivalents within the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

l. A supplementary impact cushioning device for attachment to standard railway car draft riggings of the type including a center sill and a draft gear enclosed by a coupler yoke connected to a coupler, said device comprising: a draft gear follower having depending leg portions; a housing for rigid mounting on the center sill; cushioning means within said housing; and means extending from said depending leg portions of the said follower to contact said cushioning means for transmitting impact forces on said follower to said cushioning means.

2. The combination recited in claim l in which said housing includes at least one fluid filled chamber; and in which a piston including bleed ports is located in said chamber and connected to said depending leg portions; and in which spring means are positioned within said chamber for returning said piston to a normal position after impact.

3. The combination recited in claim 1 in which said housing includes at least one chamber and in which pairs of concentric helical springs are positioned within said chamber to axially abut said last mentioned means to absorb impact loads on said follower.

4. The combination recited in claim 1 in which said housing includes at least one chamber, and in which a plurality of resilient pads and a plurality of rigid plates are interspersed in said chamber to abut said last mentioned means to absorb impact loads on said follower.

5. A supplementary impact cushioning device for attachment to standard railway car draft riggings of thc type including a center sill and a draft gear enclosed by a coupler yoke connected to a coupler, said device comprising: a draft gear follower having a pair of opwedge-shaped members and positioned to engage said` wedge-shaped members, and means rigidly connecting said last mentioned member with said depending leg portions of said draft gear follower.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,131,205 Brown Mar. 9, 1915 2,118,150 Brinkley May 24, 1938 2,658,749 Alletto NOV. l0, 1953 

